The book of Esther tells an amazing story of a powerful, beautiful woman who rose to the position of Queen of Persia and helped avert the genocide of her people. Esther became queen to one of the strongest kings in Persian history without any of the advantages of aristocratic birth, well-placed friends, inherited wealth or social prestige. In fact, she did so in spite of being born a member of the defeated, outcast Jewish people. And she was an orphan as well. She was indeed a woman …. for such a time as this.”
The Mystery of God’s Providence
Esther 1
So why should we study the book of Esther? To become powerful and successful? We could try to do so, but we would miss the real message of the book. Esther was a powerful woman and her story, without a doubt, is both an inspiration and a great teaching resource of God’s Word. The key to unlocking this book, however, is not Esther, but God. God is the leading character even though the name of God is surprisingly never mentioned in the text. The great lesson of Esther is that, in spite of the difficulties the Jewish nation faces, God keeps His promises to His people through His providence.
Perhaps, more than any other book in the Bible, Esther is a tribute to the invisible providence of God. Through a series of events and a cast of characters we will meet, the Jews were almost exterminated. But God raised up Queen Esther to prevent this from happening. See Esther 4:14b for the key verse of the book: “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”
When we open the book of Esther, we discover God’s people living in the capital city of Susa, in what is today modern Iran. How did they end up thousands of miles from their capital city, Jerusalem?
God warned that if they failed to obey and worship only Him, He would lead them into captivity. When they did just that, God kept His word (as He always does). He used first the Assyrians to destroy and scatter the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. The southern kingdom of Judah still didn’t listen to God’s warnings and they, too, were taken into captivity over 100 years later by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in a series of three deportations (605, 597 and 586 B.C). The Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem, including the magnificent temple, the throne of God’s theocracy. This began Israel’s 70-year captivity.
God raised up the Medo-Persian empire to punish the Babylonians and eventually God’s discipline came to an end.
Under King Cyrus, the new Medo-Persian King, the Jews were given permission to return home and rebuild their city. They were even given money to do so. Fifty-thousand Jews, whose hearts God stirred (Ezra 1:5), returned with leaders like Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. A conservative estimate of the number of Jews who stayed in Medo-Persia is at least 200,000. Why did they stay? They were comfortable. Born and bred in a new land, they saw no need to return to the land of their fathers, the land God promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob a thousand years before. This was the situation in which we meet Esther and Mordecai. They were Jews who stayed in Persia. Interestingly, it was during this time of captivity that God’s chosen people came to be called Jews, taken from the name of their homeland, Judah. The name Jew appears in the text 55 times.
1. A King’s Party (vv. 1-9)
King Xerxes (Ahasuerus in Hebrew) ruled Persia for 21 years (486-465 BC). The empire had four capitals, including Susa, the winter palace, where this account takes place. Xerxes ruled over 127 provinces in an extensive administrative system that extended from Ethiopia to modern day Pakistan. At that time, Xerxes was king of the known world. He was handsome, bold and ambitious, but was an immoral, ruthless tyrant with a violent temper. An example of his ruthlessness: When a storm destroyed a bridge he was building, Xerxes foolishly beheaded the builders! He was eventually assassinated.
In the third year of his reign, Xerxes called together his nobles, officials and military leaders. In order to display his wealth, splendor and glory he gave a feast that lasted 180 days (a full six months!). Secular history tells us Xerxes used these six months to rally military support to invade Greece. Xerxes’ father, Darius I, had been defeated and killed by the Greeks in a battle near Athens and Xerxes wanted to avenge his father’s death. Esther says nothing of this conflict, but historical facts and dates agree with the biblical text.
The king would have used this occasion for detailed planning sessions and to impress upon these officials his wealth and power. Can you imagine entertaining all of these guests for six months? Xerxes’ pockets were deep. Very deep.
Note vv. 5-8. When the planning was over, “…the king gave a banquet for all the people, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king’s palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest, who were in the citadel of Susa.” Notice the detailed description of the palace (indicating the unknown author of the book was possibly one of the guests.) There were white and blue linen hangings fastened to silver rings and hung on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on mosaic pavement made of marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. There was also abundant wine served in goblets of gold, in keeping with the king’s liberality. Guests could drink as little or as much as they desired (by Persian law, every guest had to drink every time the king drank. Xerxes waved this rule for those unable or unwilling to keep up with him.)
The king was showing off. He wanted the full support of all his officials, and the might and glory of Persia was at Xerxes’ disposal in order to motivate and reward all who remained loyal to his cause. The Greek historian Herodotus states that the Persians drank as they deliberated matters of state. They deliberated the gravest matters when they were drunk, and if they still approved of their decisions the next day when they were sober, they acted upon their decisions. When they had taken counsel about a matter while sober, they acted upon it when drunk (see 3:15). The ancients believed that intoxication put them in touch with the spirit world. No wonder the king wanted his guests to drink liberally!
Queen Vashti is introduced in verse nine. She appears to be a strong-willed, beautiful woman. Scripture states that Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for all the women in the royal palace. (Secular records never mention Vashti, but they do give Xerxes’ first wife the name Amestris. Vashti was probably the Greek translation of her Persian name Amestris.)
2. A Queen’s Refusal (vv. 10-12)
Continuing to show off on the last day of the banquet, the king commanded Queen Vashti to appear before his male guests to display her beauty. Vashti was a living trophy of Xerxes’ power and glory. We can easily imagine that by now, the male-only banquet had turned into a drunken party. Xerxes was clearly quite drunk as he bid his queen to appear before them. He was not doing so to honor her; he was lewdly showing her off.
But Vashti refused. Many reasons have been suggested as to why Vashti denied the king. The one most likely is that she simply refused to disgrace herself before a mob of drunken men. Regardless of her motive, her action was a breach in Persian etiquette. This refusal was extremely embarrassing for the king. His ego was damaged and he was furious. He needed his officials to march into war, but he couldn’t even get his own wife to march into the banquet hall!
3. The Cabinet Consulted (vv. 13-22)
King Xerxes sought the advice of his seven nobles (v. 14). These men were astrologers and magicians and were considered experts in matters of law and justice. They were also his closest advisers and the highest men in his kingdom. Xerxes asked them, “According to the law, what must be done to Queen Vashti? She has not obeyed the command of King Xerxes, that the eunuchs have taken to her (v. 15).”
“Then Memucan replied, in the presence of the king and the nobles, ‘Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’ This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord (vv. 16-18).’” No reconciliation is advised. Memucan spoke for the rest of the six advisors. He was greatly concerned that his wife and the other nobles’ wives would do as the queen had done! This was not just a personal affront to the king’s authority but to all seven nobles and to the entire male population of the empire! A matter between two people escalated into a national scandal!
Memucan pressed on. To avoid other women following Vashti’s “bad” example, “ … Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she” (v. 19).
This situation describes the sobering reality of life in the Persian court and provides a context for later events. The king held tremendous power and used that power with little or no regard for the consequences to others. This portrayal of Queen Vashti helps us understand what her successor, Queen Esther, would face. Esther will soon risk her life before this vain, egotistical king.
Verses 19-22 have been misused to support the absolute submission of a husband over his wife. Men with domineering temperaments use this text to assert their selfish agendas on their wives. Such a decree is hollow, for if a husband has to command his wife to respect him, whatever outward respect is shown has no real meaning. Nowhere in Scripture are husbands told to demand submission or respect. The wife is to give respect to please God and the husband is to earn their wives’ respect by his desire to obey and love God and to honor and love his wife. (Also, Xerxes asked Vashti to do something that wasn’t right.) In Esther chapter one, wives were commanded to submit by royal decree; but in Ephesians five, wives are told to submit not out of duty, but out of love for their God and their husband.
Xerxes accepted Memucan’s advice and took drastic action. “He sent dispatches to all parts of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, proclaiming in each peoples’ tongue that every man should be ruler over his own household” (v. 22). Ironically, the king publicized his own embarrassing inability to rule his own wife as he commanded his subjects to rule their wives!
Absolute power in the hands of flawed human beings is a terrifying thought. Xerxes, planning for war, paraded his wealth to impress his underlings and got drunk in the process. Vashti, a pagan queen, with no thought of the true God, refused to comply with her drunken husband and was deposed. What does this have to do with God’s people, the Jews? Everything! These seemingly unrelated (and often sinful) actions became the mysterious chain of events that conclude with the deliverance of God’s people at the end of the book. Vashti’s disobedience paved the way for Esther’s entrance. Esther was used by God to fulfill His promise to Abraham to bless and deliver His people: “The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country … and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse… (Genesis 12:1-3).
Take Home Truth: God’s providence works through misdirected and sinful motives.
Recent Comments